And finally what everyone has been waiting for, the big ones, the sights, what everyone goes to see.

(It was difficult to get some of these photos because the coach man never let us stop for long enough, so I had to take them through a dirty window and while moving.)

Some of these photos were taken while we were on our boat trip.

Unfortunately we didn't get to go up the Eiffel tower; the line was long! And we were all starving and wanted to go shopping! Don't think I actually bought anything- most of the shops were either designer, or brands we have in England, I would have preferred something from a cute market or little French boutique, but my sister did buy a 40 EURO foundation!

And remember, each day, live a little, laugh a little and love a little. ♥

The architecture in Paris is amazing!

(I'm very proud to live in the town that Paris is partially based upon.)

And here are some of the pretty photos of just everyday buildings and surroundings in Paris.

And remember, each day, live a little, laugh a little and love a little. ♥

One of the most mesmerising parts of the trip was the tour of Paris by night!

It was spectacular, seeing all the amazing architecture lit up by floods of yellow lights.

My favourite part was the Eiffel Tower Lights Show, which we had to wait a while for and it was pretty cold and windy. But it was completely worth it, it was dazzling and I really hope to see it again.

And remember, each day, live a little, laugh a little and love a little. ♥

One of the trips we took was to Versailles, and oh my god, the palace is beautiful!

 Unfortunately we weren't able to go inside the palace as my Grandma had wanted and planned as she said it would have taken hours to go around the entire palace and the coach people only have us a couple of hours, we didn't really understand their public transport properly so we opted to go back on the coach. So instead we walked around the courtyard, visited the town, had some lunch and had a look around the market, which was lovely!

And remember, each day, live a little, laugh a little and love a little. ♥

A couple of years ago my wonderful Grandma took me, my sister and my cousin for a weekend trip to Paris!

I was meant to share these photos with you guys when I first got back, but I had been a pretty bad blogger over the past couple of years. However as I am now on another dream holiday I thought this would be a perfect time to share some of the photos!

So to start it off here are some photos of us!

Going to Paris is something I've dreamed about for years and years, and it was amazing to cross something off my bucket list. And it was amazing to share it will my family. 

The only downside was the early mornings, as it was definitely more of a trip than a holiday, but we got to see so much of Paris, which will be posted over the next two weeks!

And remember, each day, live a little, laugh a little and love a little. ♥

Spring Summer 2012

Ready to Wear

Inspiration for this collection has come straight from the roots of Domenico Dolce and Stefano Gabbana; the picturesque summer times in small Italian towns, specifically during the 1950s, which I think is evident in the style of the long swing skirts and cute bralets. Their backgrounds are also shown through their use of colourful street lights hanging from the ceiling of the Metropol venue.

This entire collection oozes Italian style 50s glamour!

(Which is entirely the reason I chose to share it with you today, to celebrate me going on my holiday on Friday.)

What I really love about the collection is the prints used for the 'day time' looks- The massive eggplants, zucchinis, tomatoes and chilli peppers that you would find at the town outdoor market make their way on to the clothes, it's so different and has been copied by designers from Topshop to Primark. The patterns are emphasised by the use of vast amounts of fabrics for the full skirts, but the prints are also used on fit-and-flare dresses, midriff baring bralets, pencil skirts and play suits (perhaps inspired by the swimwear of the 1950s).

The evening wear features lace dresses and their signature corsets decorated with colourful crystals. Although big crystals aren't usually my style I think the evening wear has a playful elegance to it, and in that sense I prefer the black dress to the white, as it's looser; more mysterious and free. What I really like about the collection is the transition from day to night; the dresses start getting darker and more transparent, adding a sexy but sophisticated edge. My favourite piece of the collection of the sheer like dress with an eggplant print, allowing you to see the bralet and high waisted shorts beneath it. I think this piece represents well the contrast of the playful and darker glamour, while still highly influenced by the 50s, I like the darker edge to the 1950s glamour.

And remember, each day, live a little, laugh a little and love a little. ♥

Although I'm not too sure what the weather is like in Seattle, I thought it would be best to bring some form of shorts on my holiday (not that I'll be wearing them in public). And being all poor and stuff I didn't want to buy a pair when I had a perfectly good pair of slightly broken jeans just lying around.

I don't think I'm going to make much/any money through this, but it keeps me busy and creative while I don't have any university projects.

And not to sound big headed but I really love how my business cards turned out.

So please take a look and like my page, thank you.

And remember, each day, live a little, laugh a little and love a little. ♥

 This is a designer I discovered not long ago, and I think the collections are absolutely beautiful.

This collection heavily features tattoo style embroidery, flowing fabrics and tree silhouettes, and uses some deep luxurious colours as well as some soft nudes and greys. What I really love about the silhouettes is that they really appear to be tattoo like, belonging to the body, like some deeper connection to body and nature. Especially in terms of the body suit, the entire body is covered in feminine flowers, there is a mix of classy sophistication and mysterious sexiness, which is a big contrast to the extremely elegant gowns. A great combination of these is the garment second down on the right, it has the tight fitting bodysuit but with layers of flowing fabric to add an air of elegance, a slightly more modern piece in the collection.

As well as the embroidery there are many garments that are embellished with crystals and although they are beautiful, I don't like them as much as the delicate tree dresses. It may be because it makes the dresses look the tiniest bit more frumpy than the others, or maybe it's the gathered and pleated fabric that added the extra body.

Some of this designers work definitely reminds me of Elie Saab's collections, although the Saab has more embroidery and less crystals, but I love the work of both designers.

And remember, each day, live a little, laugh a little and love a little. ♥

In all honesty I'm a little nervous, I haven't had any form of blonde in my hair since I was about 10 years old, and I'm scared that the bleach will ruin my hair and I refuse to cut it!

So I'm just hoping that it will suit me.

And remember, each day, live a little, laugh a little and love a little. ♥

Nude Floaty Vest| Primark| £4

I think these tops are such good value, and there are several different versions; jersey print versions, viscose print versions, plain with floaty trim versions, etc etc. I think they are great and yet this is the first one I've bought, but I wanted a nice light pretty top to wear on holiday and this top fit the bill, at least in our store we have a nude one, navy one, mint one, medium blue one and I'm pretty sure there is a black one. I got a size too big so that it would be really floaty and look great with skinny jeans and heels.

Black Slouchy Vest| Primark| £2

Yes, this a a future DIY, I'm sure it'll be very obvious when I drop the hint of the World Cup, but you shall have to wait to see the finished product. And for only £2 if it goes wrong I can just get another vest top. This vest is called a "slouchy vest" designed to be bigger and make of quite soft and comfortable fabric. Also great for holidays and hanging by the pool.

Set of 9 Earrings| Primark| £1.50

I've had my eye on this set of earrings for a while now, I love the simple shapes. I tend to usually leave my second lobe piercings empty, but when one got infected and started to close up I decided I should probably start wearing earrings in them, so the small circles, squares, triangles etc. look great, but simple.

Sunglasses| Primark| £1

These are fabulous, I had a pair of these before, however I somehow managed to lose them, I still have no idea where they are, I thought there were in my big handbag, no, then in my work locker, no, small handbag, no, bedroom, no. So for a quid, I just bought myself another pair. Last year I had some aviators, however I feel like I'm trying too hard to look cool with them on, and these slightly more vintage themed ones suit my face just as well, so thought I'd try them this year!

Rose Print High Waist Bottoms| ASDA George| £5

Since the beginning of May I've been looking for the perfect affordable bikini that will hide my many sins. So a high waisted bikini seemed like the perfect option. I tried many different websites and shops, but they were either too expensive or didn't fit, so eventually I started looking at supermarkets, and luckily they George had a couple of high waisted bottom options, however I was a little worried as they didn't look that high on the website image, however once I tried them on I discovered they are definitely waist high and hide my horrible red stretch marks; yay!

Rose Print Bikini Top| ASDA George| £8

I love the kind of vintage feel the print has, usually I would have gone for a darker colour, but I had to compromise and the cute little bow on the front reminds we very much of the 50's.

Accessory Hanger| Primark| £2

Have you ever had the problem where you put all of your jewellery in one box and every single one gets entangled with the others, well I definitely was, and I've got slightly back in to wearing necklaces so I though it would be a good idea to get them slightly organised, originally I was going to do it as a DIY, but the stuff I would have needed would cost more than this cool little do-dat. This accessory hanger also comes in black and is covered in a soft felt feel fabric and has 11 hooks, so you can get a fair amount of accessories on there. You can differ what accessories you put on there, I'm considering buying another one for my scarves, oh, decisions, decisions.

Anybody else found any good summer buys?

And remember, each day, live a little, laugh a little and love a little. ♥

Ever since I first sat the newest adaptation of 'The Great Gatsby' last summer and I started Uni attending design history lectures I've been fascinated with the 1920s; I even bought a £20 book that is filled with hundred of pictures

Although the general trends of the 20's weren't the most flattering, especially compared to the small waists and corsets of the earlier 1900s, I just love it because it was such a big contrast for the time, and we have Paul Poiret to thank for the looser silhouettes and a higher hem lines.

Giannini says; "I wanted to explore an optical side of femininity by creating sculptural glamour for the Gucci woman. Fusing elements from our DNA, from design history, from photography- making them current with a strong sense of personality. Louise Brookes and Nancy Cunard in the images of Man Ray. The opulence of the era of hedonism. Mirror embroidery recalling the skyscrapers of a metropolis. Artisanal working with 3D effect."

Although not all the silhouettes are not prominmently 20's, like the high waisted trousers and boxy short jackets, there is definetly an influence in the geometric patterns, which were inspired by the Art Movement of the time; Art Deco. You could even say that some of the silhouettes were influenced by Art Deco, for example the work of Tamara De Lempicka, used linear boxy shapes to create her paintings of fashionable women. 

The collection also includes some interesting pieces in terms of manufacture; for example a black and gold leather shift dress laser-cut so minutely that it resembled eyelash fringe and a fitted T-shirt stitched together from strips of python to look like zebra stripes.

My favourite pieces in the collection has to be the gold and black drop waist dresses. The colours and fabrics give a definite modern twist to the 20s silhouette, and although these dresses have several similarities, they also differ massively making them lovely to look at. The combination of black and gold reminds me of the Great Gatsby logo as well as some of the ideas within the book, for example the a contrast in colour can represent different perspectives or how money (gold) can corrupt you (black). These dresses are so glamorous that I would still expect to see them on the red carpet this year and in coming years.

If I was slimmer I would definitely try and get a similar dress for my trip to London Fashion Week in September, but sadly I am not. I really love the costumes in the Great Gatsby, especially Daisy's, however I do feel they cheated a little bit with some of her dresses, as although they were meant to be drop waists they still clung quite snuggly to her upper silhouette, but that is one of the reasons I love them.

What do you guys think of the Great Gatsby and the collections it has inspired?

Don't you just want to go to one of his parties?

And remember, each day, live a little, laugh a little and love a little. ♥